Waiting for Hermiod
by Pouncer
Summary: Send in the clones. Slash. Pairing: John Sheppard and Rodney McKay. General spoilers for season two. Written spring 2006.


**Waiting for Hermiod**

By Pouncer

"Are you certain he's _identical_?" Rodney's voice rose in pitch until John thought only bats would be able to hear him.

John sighed and plucked at his hospital gown. Too damned familiar.

Beckett shushed Rodney, and pulled him aside to confer with Elizabeth and Ronon and Teyla. John was surprised Caldwell didn't appear in their midst, even if the Daedelus wasn't due back for weeks yet.

Honestly, go into one stinking ruin and everybody's looking at him strange when he came out. And you can't tell John that the nakedness wasn't the real reason.

John felt an itch on the back of his neck, his hackles rising. A tall figure stood in the doorway, black hair spikey, face expressionless as he regarded John.

"Colonel Sheppard," Elizabeth summoned, and his originator walked over to join the chosen.

John slouched further down in bed and rolled his eyes.

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It was boring being a clone, even one with his original's memories. Colonel Sheppard avoided John at all costs. John was forbidden from assisting with exploration, or flying, or doing anything.

John sat in a bare room all day long, a guard outside the door to prevent him from leaving. He only had books for company (not even a laptop – they didn't want him getting into the computer files), and tried to be patient.

John wasn't good at patient.

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"Look," he told Kate Heightmeyer when she prodded too much. "It's not that I'm a clone. That's just one more strange thing that's happened in Atlantis. It's that nobody will talk to me, nobody will let me _do_ anything."

She smiled at him, soothing in a way that made John's skin crawl, and said, "Given Colonel Sheppard's," and here her eyes darted down (ha!), "strong objections, I'm afraid your lack of occupation won't change. But I'll see what I can do to get you some company."

"Thanks," John said. _For nothing_.

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Teyla offered to spar with fighting sticks, but John declined. There wasn't enough space in his de facto prison cell, and his only outings were to the infirmary for weekly medical tests.

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Ronon stared at John with a strange expression on his face, and slunk out the door when John told him to leave.

John sighed, and began a regimen of push ups and sit ups and pacing.

Maybe he should ask Heightmeyer for a treadmill.

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Rodney said, "Huh," when he stepped through the door.

John blinked at Rodney from the chair where he was reading _Anna Karenina_ and said, "What?"

Rodney moved closer, in staccato beats, and looked discomfited.

"It's just weird, is all. You look just like him."

"A fact I rue every time I look into a mirror," John said. "Listen, can't you get me a portable DVD player or something? I'm going crazy here."

Rodney's headset demanded his attention, and he spread his hands helplessly as he dashed out into the corridor.

Always an emergency. John stalked over to the bad and punched the pillow.

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"Are they even _investigating_ what happened?" he asked Heightmeyer at her next visit.

"I can't discuss that, John," she said evenly.

So the answer was _no_.

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Rodney returned carrying a slim silver package. "Listen," he said, "you don't want to know what favors I had to trade to get this.

He handed it over to John, along with a bundle of silver DVDs.

"Thanks, Rodney."

Rodney backed toward the door. "Uh, listen, I need to get back to the lab," and he was so profoundly uncomfortable that John waved him away and sat down to inventory his new entertainment options.

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Rodney kept coming back, though, and bringing more movies. He even deigned to remain through the entirety of _Donnie Darko_.

Then _Constantine_.

He brought popcorn to accompany _Galaxy Quest_.

John laughed so hard he almost choked when he tried to swallow and inhale simultaneously. Rodney thumped his back with such enthusiasm that John fell down on the floor. He curled up into a ball and wheezed, still laughing.

Rodney paused the movie and looked at John uncertainly. "Are you okay?"

John smiled up at Rodney and said, "Better than a long time." He rose up onto his knees and stared into Rodney's face. The hell with it. He had no career to ruin anyway.

Rodney's mouth was soft underneath John's lips, and tasted of butter and salt. Rodney froze, unresponsive at first, and John coaxed as much as he could, until finally Rodney relaxed and began participating whole-heartedly.

Maybe captivity wouldn't be so bad now.

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Except, not so much. Oh, John anticipated Rodney's visits: the press of flesh against flesh, hands inciting nerves, Rodney's weight pinning John down and then John pinning Rodney in turn. And the rush of desire spiraling higher and higher until the only thing they could do was clutch at each other and moan their climax.

But the time John spent alone chafed even harder than before.

He wondered what his originator was doing, if Rodney had gone to the man who occupied John's life to share the same passion. Maybe John was just a pale shadow of Colonel Sheppard, regardless of the memories they shared, the body Dr. Beckett declared identical.

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Caldwell flew the Daedelus into orbit and the first John knew of it was when Hermiod was brought in to consult with Beckett. The Asgard had so much experience with cloning, after all. And his tests were more painful, more thorough, and John shivered in the cold infirmary air.

Bad news at the end of the ordeal: planned obsolescence, a life span of weeks instead of years, for reasons Hermiod didn't even pretend to care about. He looked at John with his expressionless face and huge black eyes, and said, "He will die two days from now."

John wouldn't meet any of their eyes, these people who'd regarded him as a freak ever since he saw a flash of light and reeled and looked up from his naked skin to see his mirror image (clothed, damn him) staring at him, perplexed.

Beckett said, horror in his voice, "There must be something we can do," but Hermiod was remorseless.

"Nothing."

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Back in his room, John wondered if he should bother finishing _Anna Karenina_.

Rodney slunk past the guard in the midnight hours.

John told him to go away.

Rodney leaned down onto the bed and said, "No."

-end-

_Notes_: Written for Danvers as part of the first Back to Basics: Atlantis challenge.

_Disclaimer:_ Not mine, sadly.

Feedback, positive or negative, is always welcome.


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